Shōei
is the current head of the Kantō Great Ape Alliance and son of its late leader Hihi. Though his father had sworn allegiance to the Nura Clan, his own trust in Rikuo is earned over time. Appearance Shoei wears a maroon coloured hoodie with a red cloak draped over his back which he is always seen to have the hood up with. This outfit is always coupled with a pair of long pants and sneakers. Underneath the hoodie, he wears a brown undershirt. Shoei's facial features are also very distinctive as well. His hair has a pale white/brown tone with vivid red highlights. His face is elongated and has a wide drawn mouth, and this coupled with his eyes give him a somewhat snake like appearance. His hair always seems to cover the right side of his face. Physically, Shoei stands at 7'4, dwarfing almost everyone in the Nura Clan. In his yokai form, he grows even taller. In addtion to the size increase, his body transforms into that of a gargantuan ape, with longer, larger fingers, and a fur covered body. He also always carries his fathers mask with him, wearing it always in battle, thus we never see his face while he is in his yokai form. Shoei always carries a traditional katana proportional to his size, making it a much larger katana than normal. When using certain techniques, the katana grows even further, turning into an elongated clever, set ablaze with Shoei's "fear." Personality Shoei is a very calm, collected, and cool individual. At first, he is blinded by his fathers assasination and is infuriated at those who didnt take action within the Nura Clan, but eventually calms down, revealing the collected individual who would later save the Nura clan on several occasions. Shoei draws of his wisdom from his father, Hihi, with whom he was extremely close to and loved dearly, reflecting his anger when his father was assassinated. This relationship is expanded upon several times in the manga, through various flashbacks where Hihi instills various life lessons in Shoei. Shoei still thinks about his father all the time, constantly doing things in the name of his father and swearing things to him even though he has passed, showing how deep their father-son relationship was. Shoei is extremely loyal to Rikuo, and has saved his life twice. He is intent on reviving his fallen clan, and allies himself with Rikuo not just out of this dream, but because of their friendship. He actually asked Rikuo for advice on how to expand his territory, due to them being close in age, instead of asking one of the upper echellons of the Nura Clan. Unlike most yokai who dont think highly of humans, Shoei aided Rikuo's teacher during the Tooryanse ark when she was in grave peril, never looking down on her and valuing her insight, all the while protecting her from Tooryanse. Plot Shikoku Arc Manga Prior to the current storyline, he was the son of Hihi, head of the hihi clan and senior board member of the Nura Clan. As a child, he was well aquainted with various members of the Nura Clan who served under Rihan, such as Kubinashi and Yuki Onna, calling them older brother and oolder sister. After the assasination of his father and much of his clan, Shōei is invited by Rikuo to attend a group meeting at the Nura House. He becomes enraged when the clan heads make light of his father's death and seem to have no intention of standing up for anyone but themselves. Later, he tells Yuki Onna that after his father's death, he had never wanted to return to the yōkai world again - and only did so at Rikuo's behest. His frustration at the Nura Clan's lack of action lasts only until he encounters Rikuo's "night" form, who tells him to flay off Tamazuki's skin as a means of revenge. In the final battle, Shōei advances to deliver the finishing blow after Rikuo has beaten Tamazuki, but his sword is stopped by the arrival of Nurarihyon. Anime In the anime, he is invited to attend a group meeting by the other clan heads in order to use his rage to back their own arguments. Rikuo tells him not to take revenge on his own, but he becomes frustrated at the Nura Clan's lack of action and travels to the Shikoku yōkai's skyscraper headquarters to challenge them himself. He is badly injured by Tearai Oni, rescued by the Sanba Garasu, and spends the time until the final battle recuperating. During the final battle, he sits in an alleyway still heavily bandaged and wards off errant enemies with his "fear" alone. He eventually rejoins the rest of the Nura Clan forces and watches Rikuo's "night form" in awe. When Shōei attempts to finish off Tamazuki as revenge, but is stopped by Nurarihyon. Kyōto Arc He is among the yōkai who journey with Rikuo to Kyōto. When Hemamushi Nyūdō causes Takarabune to crash, Shōei, who has morphed into his Great-Ape Youkai form and donned his fathers mask, quickly leaps in front of the crashing ship, using his imense physical shtrength to bring the ship to screeching halt. He is later complimented on this feet by kubinashi and kamaitahi. With some help from Reira, he manages to limit the damage. from here on it is assumed that he remains in Kyoto and fights the battle against the Kyoto Youkai, but is not seen for most of the ark, and is supposedly off screen. Hyaku Monogatari Arc Having officially taken leadership of the Kantō Great Ape Alliance, he asks for Rikuo's help concerning a problem within his clan's territory. Together, they investigate the rumor of Tōryanse the Slasher, a Youkai created by the 100 Tales clan in order to revive their leader. Rikuo and Shoei venture into the lair of Tooryanse, who ends up capturing Rikuo in the process. Rikuo is brought to a seprate dimension created by Tooryanse, and ends up being overpowered by the "fear" Tooryanse has over his female captives (whom are various female humans he has lured into his realm). Sensing this, Shoei proceeds to take his Youkai form and destroy Tooryanse's seperate dimension using his technique: Taien, Hihi no Oodachi. Tooryanse was shown to grow more powerful as the following battle progressed, due to rumor of his power spredding throughout edo, while torturing his captives, increasing his fear in the process. While he proved to be powerful, the pair are able to defeat him by using thematoi technique, where Rikuo wore Shoei's "fear." The matoi resulted in Rikuo wielding a gargantuan version of Shoei's katana, with a large demonic hand serving as the swords hilt, all the while Rikuo being clad in a Shoei's garb. afterwards, Shoei promises to himself to follow the Nura Clan, and eventually fully revive the Hihi clan. Rikuo then bequiths Tooryanse's land to Shoei; a sign of friendship that made Shoei realize he would follow Rikuo as his father did with Rikuos's Grandfather, Nurarihyon. Techniques/Abilities Fear-''' Shoei's fear can be assumed to be very powerful for several reasons. One in particular, he was able to cut through a Youkai's spatial technique, where the Youkai created a seperate dimension only accessible to him. This was only seen in one other instance, when Rikuo cut through the barrier surrounding Toono, possibly implying that Shoei is or has the potential to be as powerful as Rikuo. 'Swordplay-' Shoei has been shown to carry around a large Katana with him at all times, and on several occasions, most prominently the run in with Toonryanse, has shown to be proficent in swordplay. '''Member of the Kantō Great Ape Alliance '-' as a member of the Kantō Great Ape Alliance, and as the son of Hihi, Shoei boasts incredible strength. His human form already has more power than that of the average human (and stands at 7'4, no less), but in his yokai form, that of a giant ape, he grows another 3 ft tall, and wields godlike physical strength as a result. The most prominent example of this strength being used was when the Nura Clan's airship crashed into a river in Kyoto, and had gained enough speed from the crash to continue downstream and almost crash through the rivers edge. Shoei, however, assumed his yokai form, jumped in front of the moving ship, and stopped it through sheer force of his physical strength. ' Taien, Hihi No Oodachi-' using his "fear" Shoei morphs his already large katana into an even larger cleaver. the cleaver is set ablaze with Shoei's fear, and boasts enough destructive power to rip through Toonryanse's alternate dimension; something only demonstrated by the main character Rikuo when escaping from Toono, a feat that pays homage to Shoei's true power. Hihi's mask- Shoei wields the mask of his father, Hihi. it is unexplained if the mask itself provides any actual power, but Shoei wears it into battle always. It can possibly be assumed that while wearing it, he gains the "fear" and regard his father had as a youkai, adding to Shoei's own "fear." This can be vouched for in the battle against Toonryanse, when he states "dad, i am borrowing your power," as if the mask layers Hihi's power on top of Shoei's. Quotes "rising to action if your comrades are killed, isnt that the youkai code?!" "I have to deal with those bastards, the same way they delt with my father. my blood.... it just cant be calmed down!" "dad, i going to follow this guy. Ill expand the Hihi Clan.... The Nura Clan..... just watch!" "Dad... Im borrowing... your power." Trivia *He ranked 20th in the character popularity poll with 150 votes, tied with the 13th Hidemoto Keikain. *When Shōei is fighting seriously, he dons his father's mask. Category:Yōkai Category:Male Characters Category:Nurarihyon no Mago Characters Category:Nura Clan